This is not Wonderland
by HoldMeThroughItAll
Summary: "But that would spoil the game. Its a great game, I promise. I couldn't let you leave anyway. I didn't lead you down this route. One of the basic rules of the game is that who or whatever leads you down a route must lead you out again." As the last word ended, she felt her body hit the floor with a small thud.


Family gatherings were something Rose Weasley tended to avoid.

It wasn't that she didn't _love_ her family, it's just that they could be a bit much at times, especially when they were all together in a small space. Rose preferred the peace of the outdoors and the ever changing scenery surrounding her grandparent's home, so when it came to the surprisingly regular family gatherings, she would take to the fields or the woods.

On the day our story begins, the whole Weasley bunch happened to be congregated at the Burrow. Well, the whole bunch minus Rose. Rose had vanished about an hour into the morning after witnessing Molly transfigure Dominique into a pig following another one of their famous 'disagreements', and hearing the boys exploding the good dinner plates.

The early morning mist swirled around Rose's ankles as she made her way through a field of yellow with only her thoughts for company. Dewy grass tickled at her ankles, not that she noticed. Her head was way up in the clouds.

At sixteen, she would never guess that something was out to get her. The greater evil had been removed by her parents' generation years before. Of course the occasional danger lurked in the shadows, a fact that everybody is aware of, but the idea of someone setting out specifically for her was something that would never occur to her, ever, so precaution was something that was never taken.

As she reached the small river over the hill, it reminded her of the same thing that it did every time. A pair of eyes. Not just any eyes, a very specific pair. These eyes had been everywhere for the past eleven years, in the papers, plastered around both the muggle and wizarding worlds. They were the eyes belonging to a small boy that had vanished without a trace. He would have been her age, with eyes the colour of the river, sometimes icy blue and sometimes slate gray and sometimes somewhere in between. There had been no sign of the lost boy since he'd disappeared but his parents hadn't ever given up hope. Rose remembered the stories she'd heard about the parents, children to notorious war criminals, supposedly reformed. She wasn't one to judge, and she knew two of the brothers of the missing boy quite well, from school. She could never remember the boy's name, just the eyes and the white-blond hair.

The day passed before Rose, her feet in the shallow part of the water, the peace engulfing her. She was glad not to be around the chaos that was her family. Hours flew and the time was not considered until the sky had turned dark and the stars began to show. Our redhead was confident about her route home, the time it would take - she had done it countless times before, but this time, something felt different, wrong somehow. Every step she took, she could feel the shadows moving with her, following her.

Through three fields she moved, senses fully alert, paranoia coursing through her, until she reached a forest that she'd never seen before. The Burrow was fully visible through the oddly bare trees. Careful assessment showed her that the only way back was through the trees. Darkness loomed ahead as a million and one thoughts swirled around her mind.

Rose was more than aware of the creatures that lurk in the darkness in forests but she reasoned that the likelihood of being attacked was small enough for her to take that risk. Her feet moved before her head could back out of the agreement, further into the trees. It hadn't looked this thick before. The shadows still seemed to be following her, moving with her, and the trees too, closing in on her, getting closer with every movement. Though when she watched, nothing unusual happened.

Scared wasn't a feeling that was familiar to Rose but it was certainly one that she had in that moment.

"Don't be scared, they're only shadows, they can't hurt you, but they are a nice effect and a lot of fun to play with." An unfamiliar male voice sounded. She couldn't tell if it was in her head or out loud.

"Who... Who are you?" She managed to speak out into the nothingness.

"I'm either your sweetest dream or your worst nightmare. You pick."

Fear was gulped down in a desperate attempt to regain the courage that she may have once had, or at least to spark up an illusion of courage to the person, whoever they were.

"What do you want?" Her voice was stronger this time.

A few moments silence passed before the voice spoke out once more, as if it was deciding what it did want.

"I want you to play the game."

A strong wave of confusion washed away all the fear.

"The game?"

Rose felt the shadows move in closer and unconsciously took a step backwards, away from the black.

"My game. It's fun, I promise."

A reply was too much for her usually-sharp mind to think of at that second with all the other thoughts polluting the space.

"Pssst." A second voice began to communicate with the Weasley. "Down here."

It was more of a whisper than a voice and it came from the bottom of one of the trees. Rose crouched to see where the voice was coming from. A hole, big enough for any kind of small animal, sat at the base of the tree. As she patted around the gap, her balance left her and her hand slipped in.

Before she could comprehend what was going on, she was falling, down into blackness, through neither hot nor cold, through something thinner and lighter than air.

"Smart move. I guess you do want to play."

Even in the blinding darkness the voice could still reach her.

"No, I don't want to play, let me go home."

She felt like she had been falling for years. Surely the hole couldn't be so deep.

"But that would spoil the game. Its a great game, I promise. I couldn't let you leave anyway. I didn't lead you down this route. One of the basic rules of the game is that who or whatever leads you down a route must lead you out again."

That explanation helped nothing. Rose didn't want to play, she wanted to be home in bed with a book.

"I don't want to play."

A maniacal laugh rang out.

"You're playing. Good luck getting out. Have fun child."

As the last word ended, she felt her body hit the floor with a small thud.

**AN: Hey um new story yay?  
I'm not sure if I like it, and I borrowed the whole falling down a hole thing from Alice in Wonderland, but hopefully the plot will turn out differently to Alice?  
Other story on pause until further notice for lots of reasons.  
Reviews are encouraged.  
Should hopefully update again soon?**


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